I guess I should start by telling you that I’m not quite sure why I’ve started this blog. A part of me wants to motivate myself to get off of my lazy but and practice. Another part of me is slightly obsessed with everything yoga even though I only attend practice in short spurts. One of my yoga teachers tells me that “everyone has their own journey”, sometimes it takes years for yoga to stick.

I guess the main reason I started this blog is that I’ve yet to come across any yoga blogs that are written from a young Black woman’s prospective. One that is not self-righteous and too new-agey and inaccessible. I read an article in Clutch Magazine about the reasons Black folks don’t practice yoga. I expected our hair or the price to be cited as an issue but I was perplexed to learn that some Black people wouldn’t even consider trying it because they think it’s a religion and that it involves rituals and idol worship.

I consider myself to be “spiritual” versus “religious”, but even growing up in a Pentecostal household, this concept was lost on me. I won’t speculate on what yoga is or isn’t, maybe I think it’s different for everyone. I’m by no means an expert but I thought it might be fun to take this journey together.

There are different types but I’m hot for Bikram Yoga, also known as hot yoga.

Bikram Yoga’s goal is all-around wellness. Bikram Yoga is performed in heated studios to facilitate deeper stretching and prevent injury while reducing stress and tension. Bikram aims to stimulate and restore health to every muscle, joint, and organ of the body. Each component takes care of something different in the body, and yet they all work together contributing to the success of each other.

Why 105 degrees? Not to worry, I often ask myself the same thing when I'm in there.

Yoga changes the construction of the body from the inside out, from bones to skin and from fingertips to toes. So before you change it, you have to heat it up to soften it, because a warm body is a flexible body. Then you can reshape the body any way you want.

Class is done in 105 degrees so if you’re just starting out, or you’re a hot mess like me, lie down until the feeling passes, and to join back in when they feel ready.

Here are the 26 Postures of Hot Yoga:

Well, that's all I've got for now because I've got to drag myself to the yoga studio...I don't think they'd allow me to write this if I don't. We'll talk more tomorrow.

Namaste Brown Girls!